Fantasy Teams
Reading LEO’s excellent article on the Yum! Center’s finances (Feb. 20 issue) reminded me of an initiative I think is long overdue. Could a team not be created here consisting of former U of L, WKU and IU players who are not quite good enough to make the NBA, yet were superb college players? Indeed, a league could be formed of cities where such players acquired considerable popularity. Why let their local drawing power and talents be wasted?
Here’s a brief list of possible franchises consisting of local players: Lexington — UK players; Syracuse — University of Syracuse players; Hartford — University of Connecticut (nearby New England) players; Raleigh, N.C. — Duke, UNC, North Carolina State players; Nashville — UT, Memphis, Vanderbilt players; Columbus — Ohio State, Cincinnati, Xavier, Dayton players; etc.
Each of these cities, and more, has populations and sports arenas sufficient to support such franchises. The Kentucky Colonels were a success because of the local popularity of players such as Dan Issel and Louis Dampier. Such a league could succeed, and it would fill Yum!’s scheduling voids as well as downtown coffers. Also, it could assist the financial futures of young athletes who made substantial contributions to their communities.
Lawrence Chase, Old Louisville
Students in Action
What can college students do to save the planet from near certain destruction? This is a question the Kentucky Student Environmental Coalition has been asking ourselves for some time now, and the conclusion we have drawn is, a lot. That is why Kentucky students have been organizing themselves to end dirty energy and injustice in our communities. It is why we have been working on campaigns to invest in our future, the future of Kentucky, and a just, green economy. It is why students rode for more than 20 hours in buses this month to the largest climate rally in U.S. history.
We are fed up with being told our voices don’t matter, that our ideas aren’t feasible. We’ve been told renewables won’t work here, but that is a lie. Kentucky has more than enough solar, wind and geothermal potential, which, when combined with efficiency, could power our homes and cities. While others lead, folks here in Kentucky refuse to hear our calls for a new source of power. So we will take our message home and focus on changes we can achieve at our own campuses.
This year we will see students vote to spend our own money on efficiency and renewables through green fees, even in the face of rising education costs. We will see students demanding ethical endowments because we know it is time to divest from fossil-fuel companies and invest in our futures. Help us, or stand aside, because no one can stop us.
Cara Cooper, Lexington
We the People
In response to Paul L. Whiteley Sr.’s letter in the Feb. 6 LEO, I find that I am a freakin’ genius in exposing false arguments even before they get started. That the writer indirectly referred to guns as “weapons of mass destruction” is ridiculous and marginalizes any serious further discussion by him about gun violence.
Now, one might state that we have “people of mass destruction” who are a relatively small percent and commit heinous crimes. In contrast, we have an overwhelming percent of law-abiding gun owners and users. And don’t try to sell your propaganda with the “we the people” ploy. It’s dishonest. If anything, the “gun lovers” have been a silent majority until recent years. Now they are more so pushing back in response to President Obama’s policies, which have directly heightened sales of more guns and ammunition by legal gun owners.
The U.S. government seeks to limit the Second Amendment rights of American citizens. More and more people are waking up to this tyranny. That’s really a case of “we the people” standing up for our unalienable rights.
Robert Veith, Brandenburg, Ky.
